1 The second page of the manuscript of this article has been preserved. Judging by 
the content of the passage, the article was written by V. I. Lenin in connection 
with statements in No. 3 of the journal "Nasha Zaria" for 1914 by the Liquidators 
F. Bulkin and L. Martov, directed against the Bolsheviks. Bulkin and Martov's 
statements were subjected to sharp criticism by V. I. Lenin in a number of his 
articles (see Complete Collected Works, vol. 25, pp. 131–134, 167–170, 
183–206, 321–352).

## LETTER TO G. L. SHKLOVSKY
[1914, April, after the 25th]

Dear G. L.,

I had only just sent you a letter when I received your postcard.

I am sending the article.¹ Show it to Samoilov and **edit it legally** (tell the whole 
story in the **third person** — "they," "the workers" are doing this, I, Samoilov, merely 
saw it and am recounting it).

Think it over **three times**, so that it is legal, so that Samoilov cannot be prosecuted. 
Legality... *

x) You see that I have already struck out much that is illegal. I have not had time 
to finish completely. You will easily do this in translation.

Printed from the text of the facsimile published in the catalogue "Autographen aus 
verschiedenem Besitz," Marburg, 1963, S. 171, Tafel 44

¹ The reference is to the article "May Day and the Workers' Movement in Russia" 
(see the following document).

## MAY DAY AND THE WORKERS' MOVEMENT IN RUSSIA¹
[1914, April, after the 25th]

On behalf of the workers of Russia I send greetings to the Swiss workers and 
warmest wishes for further successes in the struggle for socialism.

* The manuscript breaks off here.

The Swiss workers have long enjoyed a fairly complete political freedom, and it is 
difficult for them to imagine to what degree the workers of Russia are deprived of rights. 
The electoral law for our State Duma [is a cruel mockery of the rights of citizens] is 
distinguished [by this law workers are shut out]. Workers in a special workers' curia and 
deputies to the Duma from among the workers are not elected by the workers themselves, 
but by landowners and priests! It goes without saying that the majority everywhere is 
assured by law (through appointment of the number of electors) for the reactionaries. 
And yet the workers send only Social-Democrats to the Duma, [candidates of an illegal 
party.]

How is this possible? The workers elect all the electors — Social-Democrats — and 
all the electors, except the party candidate, refuse to participate in elections. The 
reactionary landowners the workers [Social-Democrats] force to elect Social-Democrats 
to the Duma!!

[Without any trial] Workers are arrested in Russia by the dozens and hundreds for 
participation in the workers' movement and [without trial] are deported administratively 
into exile. But the workers of Russia nevertheless [the first to have broken the arbitrary 
rule and disenfranchisement in Russia through the great all-Russian strike and the 
revolution of the fifth year] continue [even now their revolutionary] struggle with such 
force that no persecutions are [able] in a position to hold them back.

Legal workers' unions [the government] our administration closes without any trial [arbitrary 
rule ... est *]. And yet the workers again and again establish unions. |Their illegal party, 
the RSDLP, the majority of conscious workers of Russia defend with all their might, 
concealing their illegal revolutionary work in every way through legal forms of movement.| 
At the present time [For example, now!] insurance funds are being introduced everywhere 
in Russia, and the workers elect to the boards only trusted people, the "Pravdists." The 
word Pravdist means a supporter of the group "Pravda." This is what the first legal Marxist 
daily newspaper in Russia is called, founded on April 22, 1912 at the moment of a 
tremendous upsurge in strikes caused by the Lena massacre of April 4, 1912. The 
government closed "Pravda," — the workers founded one of the same orientation, 
"Severnaya Pravda." They closed that too: "Rabochaya Pravda" was founded. After 
countless closures, fines, confiscations, "Put' Pravdy" still appears even now, which on 
April 22 (O.S.) 1914 celebrates the 2-year jubilee of a workers' daily newspaper in Russia.

* Thus in the document.

Conscious workers in Russia, as I have convinced myself, both in Vladimir Province, 
where I was elected, and in St. Petersburg, where I serve as a member of the Duma,² 
ardently stand for Social-Democracy [their illegal party, the RSDLP, and put forward a 
threefold slogan of revolutionary struggle]. In Russia even the bourgeoisie — both the 
Kadets and the Octobrists, monarchist parties, moderate, hostile to revolution, now 
recognize the probability and inevitability of a new revolution. So [great is the 
disenfranchisement and arbitrary rule everywhere, so] strong is discontent growing 
everywhere, so desperate are the ruin of the peasants and the famines of millions of 
peasants.

But of all the classes of Russian society only one — the proletariat — raises openly 
the banner of full democratic transformations [revolution and propagandizes it among 
the masses of the people. The threefold revolutionary slogan which I encountered 
everywhere in Russia among conscious workers is the following: 1) democratic republic; 
2) confiscation of the landowners' lands for the peasants; 3) an 8-hour workday. The 
first two slogans are called forth by the fact that without political freedom and the 
overthrow of the power of the serf-holding landowners (who trample all laws in Russia, 
having a majority both in the State Duma and in the State Council) the workers see no 
way out to a broad class struggle for socialism].

The Swiss workers are conducting their class struggle freely and widely even now, 
preparing forces for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie. And on the day of May the First, 
on the world holiday of workers and the day of review of their [revolutionary] forces, I 
send our brothers, the Swiss workers, a warm greeting on behalf of all the conscious 
workers of Russia.

Appeal to the Swiss Workers *

Printed from the text of the journal "Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte," 
1966, No. 3, pp. 412–414

The article "May Day and the Workers' Movement in Russia" was written by V. I. Lenin 
for the pre-May issue of the newspaper "Berner Tagwacht" ("Bern Watch") for 1914, where 
it was planned to publish it under the signature of deputy to the IV State Duma F. N. 
Samoilov.

In his letter of April 25 (N.S.) 1914, G. L. Shklovsky informed V. I. Lenin that the 
chief editor of the newspaper "Berner Tagwacht," R. Grimm, had approached F. N. 
Samoilov, who was in Bern for treatment, with a request to write an article about the 
position of the Bolshevik faction in the Duma and asked Vladimir Ilyich to write the 
article for Samoilov. Lenin wrote the article and sent it to Shklovsky with instructions 
to show it to Samoilov and to think it over "three times" in order to make it legal. In 
connection with this assignment, apparently, a number of sentences and words were 
removed (in the present collection they are enclosed in square brackets).

* — Appeal to the Swiss Workers.